Faces Under Water
by BlueDaze
Summary: Kaname goes to meet a mysterious stranger and Sousuke follows. There, they learn what it truly is to be a wraith. Some End of the Day by Day spoilers.


Faces Under Water

by BlueDaze

Disclaimer: I do not own FMP!

It was a grey autumn day when Sousuke made his way home from school. The leaves had started to fall from the tree like red, gold, and brown snow. They crunched beneath his feet and fell in his hair, the disheveled strands clinging to it like a birds' nest. But the young soldier did not notice any of this. His mind was on other things.

Kaname...why did he keep getting the feeling that she was hiding something from him?

It had been a month since the incident in Hong Kong when Kaname was forced to journey there in order to haul Sousuke's erstwhile ass home. And it had been quite awhile since he had gotten the orders that pretty much told him to forsake Kaname and leave Tokyo and the life he had aquired behind.

He didn't want to. Deep in his heart, he really didn't. But the truth is, he had been a soldier far longer than he had been a free thinking individual. So instead of following his heart, he had followed what his superiors had told him to do instead, proving that he was nothing more than their dog.

Even though Kaname had taken the time and effort to travel to Hong Kong in order to bring him back and since his return, everything seemed to have returned to normal something seemed slightly off between him and Kaname.

He still spent every moment he could in her presence. The feeling that he had felt the time she had given him a haircut, that warm, strange tenderness as she cut his hair and ran her fingers through his unkempt strands had continued to grow. His brief but traumatizing seperation from her had only strengthened his resolve to stay by her side and keep her safe.

Because he could never risk letting Gauron's words ever come to pass one day.

Yet here he was, this beautiful and cold autumn day, walking home alone.

Lately, he thought. She's been a little distant. By any means, she had not let up on her fan beatings and still took it upon herself to whoop his ass if he got out of line. But at the same time, he could feel that her mind has been elsewhere.

She had taken to spending more time by herself. Before, she would always be surrounded by a flock of friends, smiling and laughing with such melting warmth. But now, she would often steal away to a less crowded place and sit by herself for hours, staring at the leaves as they fell.

At times like these, he would always be watching her from a distance out of duty and a strange longing he was still to afraid to understand.

Even though Kaname could pretend, he could not. In the last few days, Kaname had become more somber and when she thought no one was looking, the mask of confidence would fall away and he would glimpse the sadness and vulnerability she had always managed to hide.

Whenever he asker her about it, she would always respond with a bright smile and chirp "Don't worry about it. Its nothing."

The smile which once brought such warmth to his heart was now like a nail peircing it.

What is she hiding from me and why? he thought as he continued to tail the oblivious young woman.

"You're the only one I trust Sousuke."

Kaname had told him that she was going to the library to study with Kyouko. But perhaps his mind and his senses were far sharper than that of a normal high school student or because he had somehow grown more in tune with Kaname's mannerism in the time he spent with her. When she told him that she would be studying with Kyouko, a faint pinkness crept into her cheeks and her eyes darted away from him.

The first time she gave him such an excuse, he had actually asked Kyouko to verify. The pig tailed girl simply blushed for him and answered in the negative. Then she confided in him the intel that continued to haunt him long after.

"I think that Kana has found herself a boyfriend," Kyouko said solemnly. "I sometimes see her around with this guy and they always look so secretive and serious." When Kyouko saw the look on Sousuke's face, she quickly amended that it may just be her imagination.

Kaname was not telling him the truth. Which he found unsettling for some reason. But not as disturbing as the idea of her dating someone without him being aware of it.

So here he was, this blustery fall day, following the young schoolgirl, only a few feet away from her.

_Could it be...that she still hasn't forgiven me for abandoning her?_

Sousuke's jaw clenched. How could she ever forgive me for such a thing? I let her believe that I would always be there to protect her, allowed her to place all the faith she had in the world in me...and then I turn around and leave her without so much as a Sayonara.

Not only that, I left her to fend for herself in a situation in which she could have easily died.

Kaname...the rain pouring down on her thinly clad figure as she lay huddled and frightened while an assassin hunted her down. The image still gave him nightmares.

But he was told that she would be safe. Wraith would have...kept her safe...

Fool! Did you actually believe that? Even you never had any faith in him. How could you have depended on him to protect her? How could you have entrusted her safety to a man like him?

Wraith wasn't here to face down Kaname's displeasure. Sousuke was. And her unhappiness with him was felt like a frozen wind on a grey, autumn day.

I just want her to be happy with me again. Or to hit me as though she meant it...I want us to be as it was before.

Kaname came to a stop before a small pond and Sousuke ducked behind a nearby tree. She watched the ducks swim to and fro while he watched her.

Just then, a figure approached her wearing a dark trench coat. It appeared to be a young man with dark hair. Kaname's new boyfriend?

Sousuke instinctively pulled back the safety on his weapon. Just in case it wasn't- or was...whatever. Either way, the guy should expect at least the standard shakedown, which included frisking for weapons and maybe a kick or two to the gut.

But instead of attacking Kaname, he simply stood next to her, staring at the ducks.

Kaname didn't look up at the young man for a while. Finally she spoke. "Hello Wraith. Playing stalker again are we? You're just as bad as Sousuke."

The young man stared at her for a minute. Then let out a raucous laugh.

Confusion smacked Sousuke across the face. He knew that Kaname had met Wraith once, that rainy night on the roof. But she had never told him about any other encounters aside from that.

"To be fair, Miss Kaname. I never blew up school property or assaulted hair stylists," Wraith smirked.

Kaname harumphed. "You make it sound as though he's a psychopath."

"You make it sound as though he's justified." Wraith threw some crumbs to the ducks. "So. What are you doing here by yourself?"

"Felt like it."

"You seem to be feeling like that a lot. I seem to recall that this is the sixth time in two weeks that we have spoken with each other. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were lonely."

Kaname twisted away from him, so that he would not see the unladylike scowl on her face. "I am not...lonely. Don't say such things."

"Of course not. What am I thinking? YOu're one of the most popular girls in your school. Everyone loves you. You even have your own personal stalker. What more could a girl ask for?"

She frowned at him. "Your sarcasm is something to be desired."

"Then why do you always want to come and see me."

Kaname sighed and stared at her reflection in the water. The girl who stared back had sad, uncertain eyes.

Why did she keep seeing him?

"Wraith," she said as though she were tasting it. "Like a ghost. A shadow. A phantom."

"Yes."

"I wonder if you had a name before that?"

Silence.

"That isn't the type of thing you should ask."

"No, I suppose not. Wraith. The essence of a person that has died and is unable to pass into the next world. And because of this they are doomed to wander the world of the living until the ties that bind them are cut." She mused although there was a depth to her eyes.

"Whenever I see you, you're like a shadow that sometime I doubt you're even there. As if you're haunting me. Its different when Sousuke follows me."

_Yes. When I follow her, things tend to explode or run away._

"It must be a very lonely existence. To be a ghost. A person," she continued, "of two worlds. Belonging to neither. Perhaps that is why...I keep coming back to you."

She did not look at Wraith as she spoke, only at her reflection in the pond. "Sousuke belongs to the world that is Mithril: combat and protocol and missions. Never knowing when it may all end. And then there is Tokyo: peaceful streets, people and highschool. Two different worlds. So tell me Wraith- in which of those worlds do I belong?"

Although her tone of voice was light, Sousuke could still hear the heaviness in her words.

Wraith answered. "Why, Tokyo of course."

"Of course." Kaname smiled, bittersweet. "Do you know of any other Japanese citizens who are Whispereds, who are targeted by shadowy organizations because of top secret information stored in their minds? That assassin from a month ago...there'll be more, right? It won't just stop with one person's death."

Wraith did not speak. Kaname went on. "And because I was raised in such peaceful, blissful ignorance, I never learned how to defend myself against the big, bad world beyond the gates. I thought I was strong- but I don't know how long my strength will last." Sorrow, as much as knowing, weighed down on her. "I can't fight forever. And I can't ask Mithril to do the same."

"So you see, when all is said and done, I too, am a ghost. A Wraith. Held together by two worlds, and at the same time belonging to neither."

"Do you really feel that way, Angel? Look around you. You are surrounded by friends who care for you. And you have the backing of an organization that would risk so much to keep you safe."

"Oh yes. Mithril has no qualms about laying down their _soldiers's_ lives to keep me safe," she said with a hint of contempt. "So many people have already died because of me. Is that my fate, then? I'm just something for people to suffer over -- or to exploit. If I was Sousuke, I wouldn't want to protect me."

_Is that...how she thinks I feel? _Sousuke thought, his mouth dropping open. _Does she actually believe that she's not worth fighting for, worth dying for? _In that moment, he wanted to dash forward and tell her that she was so much more than just the data floating through her head.

"I think," Kaname went on, sounding very tired. "I think Sousuke should be reassigned to another mission. He shouldn't have to be my bodyguard anymore."

The teen soldier nearly had a convulsion. He wanted to go over there and shake some sense into her. Then turn around and knock Wraith's teeth out for having secret conversations with Kaname without informing him of it first.

"Well, personally speaking, I can't blame you for wanting to replace Sagara. But- is this really what you want?"

She hesitated.

Its not what I want, she thought. But maybe its for the best...I don't want to end up getting so attached to him, tricking myself into believing that he'll always be there when...

...anyday, she could go upstairs to his apartment and that he was gone, without leaving so much as a note.

She could still remember that day, finding the place as cold and empty as her heart.

He left me once. I can't help anticipating that he'll do it again. He's a mercenary, a soldier from a world that may as well have been the moon of a distant planet to her. And no matter what, nothing could change the fact that he would eventually have to return, even as her own world shook with instability.

Change. That was what she feared. And that was what was inevitable.

One day, some unimaginable disaster would seperate them indefinitely. She could not help but feel it in her bones. Whether it was as earth shattering as a all out siege to claim her or as mundane as a new orders.

She didn't want to hold him close only to have him torn away from her again.

"I want Sousuke to always stay by my side," she said softly. "But that's just me being selfish. Wanting to keep him. Thinking that I'm the only one that needs him. But if I can't count on him to be there for me, to go to class with me, to study with me, to just be my friend...then honestly I don't think I have it in me to count on anyone."

"Alone. Just like a ghost."

The two figures, who appeared to be actual people, but were in reality Wraiths wrapped in flesh stood in silence.

"Ms. Kaname?"

"Mmmm."

"Try to keep your thoughts in the land of the living. I don't think that someone as spirited as yourself would enjoy being a ghost."

A faint smile appeared on her face. "Have a nice day, Mr. Wraith."

With that she left, a flurry of leaves stirring in her wake.

After she had gone, Wraith turned around. "You can come out now, Sergeant Sagara."

Sousuke emerged from his place behind the tree, his face furious. "You insolent bastard," he snarled. "You have no right to have secret conversations or anything else with Kaname behind my back! Its unprofessional, its-its sickening."

"You're surprisingly inarticulate today," Wraith drawled. "I was only speaking to her. Lately, Angel has taken me on as her confidante." Wraith then grinned wickedly at him. "Or are you afraid that Kaname has developed a taste for mercenary bodyguards?"

"Kalinin will hear of this!"

"Oh a bodyguard getting too unprofessional where his charge is concerned? I'm sure he'll be flabbergasted."

"Damn you," Sousuke growled and then turned to storm off.

Wraith called out to him. "DOn't you want to know what we talked about? All the other times I met with her?"

Sousuke froze.

"Rest assured, nothing indecent has gone on between me and Angel. So don't you worry about me sullying her honor."

"Then why are you-"

"I saw her sitting by herself one day and thought she looked lonely. And then another day, I saw her sitting by herself. And another day. Another day. Before you know it be became a habit."

"She came to you...as a friend?" Kaname being friends with a shady individual whom Sousuke loathed did not make him any happier. "I find that slightly unbelievable when there are other people whom she can speak to."

"Oh really? People who can understand what its like to have unusual telepathic powers and be sought after by terrorist groups and be a highschool girl living by herself?"

Sousuke was quiet.

"Truthfully, Kaname probably came to me because I wasn't her friend, wasn't someone who would tell her it would all turn out ok because the chances are it probably won't. Really, she just wanted someone who would listen to her and maybe tell her "hey, at least tomorrows' a new day."

"She could have come to me," Sousuke said, forlornly.

Wraith merely shrugged. "There are some things you can only tell a stranger."

"I see." Sousuke stared at the direction Kaname left. "You're not really going to do what Kaname asked and request to have me reassigned, are you?"

"Are you kidding? She would probably kill me if I did that!"

Sousuke then turned around, ready to take leave of his fellow bodyguard.

"Oh Sousuke." The young sergeant turned around. Wraith appeared to hesitate. "Really all she needs to know...is that she can count on you."

Sousuke stared at him. Then nodded in respect and walked away.

Wraith let out a small chuckled and rubbed the synthetic rubber of her mask. "Ah, young love..."

On the way home, Sousuke passed the playground. Although he was deep in thought over what Wraith had told him, she still managed to catch his eye.

Kaname Chidori was sitting on one of the swings, swaying back and forth, her toe scraping against the ground.

Feeling his stare burning into her, she looked up. "Oh Sousuke!"

"Chidori." He approached her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, still startled.

Its just a coincidence, he started to say. "I followed you. I'm sorry. But I was very worried about you."

She looked at him, slightly confused, not knowing whether she should be upset with his stalker tendencies.

Then she smiled. "Thank you for worrying."

An awkward quiet followed.

"Chidori?"

"Yes?"

Sousuke hesitated. Then he let emotions he could not yet define pour from his mouth in an clumsy but oddly sweet and sincere outburst.

"I, too, am selfish. When I left you, I felt out of place. Mithril and fighting no longer felt as natural as it once did. For some strange reason that defies all logic...I'm happier when I'm with you. Since I met you, I felt as though I'm never really alone because you're with me. Always. Sometimes it inspires me to fight harder so I can see you that much sooner. Sometimes, its painful, confusing especially when I was forbidden to see you. Even though I know I don't fit in your peaceful world, I wanted to stay. Even though I'm not supposed to...I wanted more than anything to keep you. Safe. Happy. Your friendship. It means everything to me. You mean everything-"

He suddenly found himself blushing so fiercely he could not bring himself to continue. When Kaname simply stared off into the distance as though she did not hear him, he hung his head, convinced he had made a fool of himself.

"Hey Sousuke?"

"Yes?"

"Will you push me?" Kaname still would not look at him. But he could see the smile on her face as a solitary tear made its way down her cheek.

"Yes, ma'am."

Sousuke began to push Kaname back and forth on her swing as the sun began to set, setting fire to the once grey clouds. Two teenagers, not really belonging to the world of mere mortals and not quite ethereal enough to be wraiths, who knew it was enough just to belong together.

Not far away from them, a figure as mysterious as a shadow smiled at them. Then vanished, leaving only the whisper of autumn leaves falling from the trees.


End file.
